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Argo offence schooled by Als

Unless the Argonauts can figure out a way to start scoring touchdowns, head coach Bart Andrus' reputation as an offensive genius is in serious jeopardy.

Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo fumbles the ball while being hit by Argos' Steve Schmidt during the first quarter in CFL action on Friday, August 7, 2009 in Montreal. (PAUL CHIASSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

By Chris ZelkovichSPORTS REPORTER

Sat., Aug. 8, 2009

MONTREAL–Unless the Argonauts can figure out a way to start scoring touchdowns, head coach Bart Andrus' reputation as an offensive genius is in serious jeopardy.

The Argos apparently left their offence on the team bus last night, turning in a horrid performance in losing 25-0 to the first-place Montreal Alouettes before 20,202 fans at Percival Molson Stadium.

In doing so, the 2-4 Argos became the first team to be shut out since the Hamilton Tiger-Cats did it (against Toronto) four years ago.

The statistics were ugly enough: A paltry 126 yards of offence, only 11 first downs, and seven sacks surrendered. But the real ugliness is that this is part of a disturbing trend.

The Argos have scored only two touchdowns in their past four games, a staggering lack of performance in a scoring league.

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"That was really a poor performance offensively tonight," said Andrus, who also doubles as offensive co-ordinator.

"When it comes right down to it, I'm ultimately responsible for the performance of the entire team and tonight was not a very good performance by our football team and it was a great performance by Montreal's football team."

Though Andrus pulled quarterback Kerry Joseph in the fourth quarter for backup Cody Pickett, he said he stands behind his starter.

"It's not necessarily the guy pulling the trigger, it's a lot of things," he said. "Obviously we have some issues up front and we need to keep addressing that. We need to get better at protecting our quarterbacks.

"We're searching for answers in that area."

Joseph, who was taken out after hitting his head against the turf in the fourth quarter, is also searching for answers.

"It's embarrassing," he said after a night that saw him complete just seven passes for 61 yards. "We've got too much talent offensively to be getting beat the way we're getting beat. The defence is doing a hell of a job. We've got to find a way to take care of our load."

The defence indeed did a solid job. Though it gave up 465 net yards, it held the Als to only three TDs despite being on the field for most of the game.

But the offence was simply never a threat.

While the Argos curbed their cartoon-like charitable ways – keeping the turnover total to a relatively modest three – any resemblance to an offence was coincidental.

They got no closer to the Alouette end zone than the Montreal 45 until the game was long out of reach. Even then, with a first down at the Als' 6, they couldn't finish the job.

On the rare occasions when the Argos moved the ball, they shot themselves in their cleated feet.

After linebacker Willie Pile forced a rare Anthony Calvillo fumble on a third-and-two gamble in the first quarter, Jason Shivers recovered the ball to set up the Argos on their own 41.

But the Argo offence wasted no time in putting itself in a hole with a procedure call.

Two plays later, the Argos gambled on third and less than a yard. For reasons unknown, the ball was handed to Jamal Robertson deep in the backfield and he ended up losing two yards.

After a Montreal single, the Argos got their only first down of the opening quarter on a Joseph run. But he promptly squandered that victory by throwing into coverage for his league-leading 10th interception of the year.

When they recorded their second first down early in the second quarter, the Argos wasted no time putting themselves in a hole with two penalties worth 15 yards.

While Joseph and Pickett were running for their lives most of the night, Calvillo had his usual stress-free game. He threw for 396 yards, 103 of them to veteran slotback Ben Cahoon, who passed the 12,000-yard career receiving mark.

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